The Happiest Place on Earth
by LanceIsHot
Summary: The X-men, Brotherhood and Amanda spend their second day at Disneyland.
1. A Boring Summer

A/N Okay people's, this is my first fanfic, so don't flame me to bad, I wouldn't mind a few reviews, though. And just to clear a few things up, Tabitha moved back into the mansion, and Kitty is dating Lance. And they're going to Disneyland because I actually know it, and wouldn't be able to have them at a park designed for older kids, but what can I say, I like it.  
  
The Happiest Place on Earth 'It's going to be a pretty boring summer', Jamie decided, looking out his bedroom window, which gave a perfect view of the pool, and Bobby freezing up the water. Most people would find that enough for a pretty interesting summer, but Jamie had seen it happen so many times, it lost the appeal it had at first. What he needed was a change of scenery, something that would break up the boredom.  
As he was contemplating this, he got a message from the professor. 'Students, meet in the library immediately.' Jamie slightly jumped at the voice in his head, but he was rather used to it, and so he climbed off his window sill, and headed down for the library.  
Once he got there, he realized that he was the first kid there, and would be in charge of the seating arrangements. The other new recruits wouldn't sit anywhere near him, Rogue and Kitty would sit next to him, if, for no other reason than to be as far away from Bobby as possible, and Scott would stand right behind him, making sure he didn't get bumped.  
Sure enough, as all the students piled in, they sat (or stood) exactly where he thought they would. He wished for the umpteenth time that he was a year or two older, and the new recruits treated him like a friend, and not an annoying tagalong. But before he could get around to too much self-pity, the professor came in.  
"Is everyone here?" he asked, looking around the room. "Well, since we're all present, I have some pretty big news for you all. Since our cruise didn't really relax us any, and the fact that the Apocalypse situation is, at the moment, under control, I thought we would try another vacation."  
"Like, no way!" Kitty exclaimed, "Where are we going?"  
"To California," Logan said, and the students couldn't help but notice the rather disgusted look he had on his face. "To Anaheim, California, aren't we lucky, we're all going to Disneyland."  
"Hey what's wrong with Disneyland, none of us have every been there," Scott said, looking around the room. It was true, none of them had ever been to an amusement park, they didn't live near any, and living at the school had made it difficult to take many vacations. So while it was technically considered to be for kids, the teenaged mutants were excited about it. Maybe a little to excited, Jubilee was making fireworks, Rahne had transformed into her wolf form, and was running around the room, barking happily, and Tabitha was throwing explosions everywhere.  
Suddenly, Kurt stopped swinging from the chandelier and looked at the professor.  
"What about Amanda?" he asked. "I don't want to be gone without her."  
"Relax elf, we'll only be gone about 4 days," Logan said, not even attempting to keep from rolling his eyes.  
"Actually, Kurt, I've already contacted Miss Sefton's parents, and they have agreed to let her come with us," the Professor said.  
"I thought her parents hated you," Bobby said, "and yet their letting her go with us?"  
"Come on, her parent's aren't that prejudice against us, once I explained what happened with Toad (The Toad, the Witch, and the wardrobe) they let us start dating again," Kurt said. He looked at the professor, "so she's really coming with us?" He asked.  
"Yes, Kurt, and don't worry, Kitty, the brotherhood is coming as well," the professor said, noticing the look of worry that was etched on her face. Scott stopped mid-cheer and looked at his teacher.  
"Professor," he said, "you can't be serious. The brotherhood? Coming with us?"  
"Scott, don't worry," Jean, said, "I'm sure they won't cause that much trouble."  
"Yeah right," Scott mumbled, before sulking off to his room to pack. Jamie looked around the room excitedly. He couldn't believe, he was going to Disneyland, and he'd be with all of his friends. Well, he'd be with all the kids from the institute, and maybe, the magic of Disneyland and all that junk would make them like him, if only for the time they were there. He ducked quickly, dodging one of Ray's electrical shocks.  
Maybe the summer wouldn't be that bad after all. 


	2. Ordinary day

Chapter 2  
  
It was an ordinary day for Lance. Went to steal...I mean, "buy" some food, got pushed around by mutant haters, ended up knocking them unconscious, got home, and tried to keep the food away from Freddy. But that was hours ago, and he felt that if he sat up in his room any longer, he'd go crazy, so he headed down the stairs.  
  
As he passed the living room, he heard Pietro and Wanda fighting over the remote. Todd was sitting on the armchair, watching the sibling rivalry in fascination/horror. He knew that he didn't have a chance with the remote, being the youngest and the weakest, he had given up his favorite shows a long time ago. Lance felt sorry for the younger mutant; he had given up a lot for their so-called "family".  
  
Lance walked into the kitchen, barely noticing the sandwich that Fred made, which was stacked from the table to the ceiling, and Fred appeared to be looking for a way to cram the whole thing in his mouth. Lace looked in the fridge, a look of disgust etched on his face. The whole fridge was almost empty; all that was left was some old peanut butter.  
  
"Freddy," Lance said, "what happened to all the food I just bought?"  
  
"Oh, well..." Freddy started, and looked at his sandwich. Lance took the hint, not wanting to question the fact that half the stuff he bought wouldn't be something that belonged on a sandwich. Just as he was about to head out, the doorbell rang.  
  
Scott and Kitty stood out side the Brotherhood house. Kitty was there to ask them to go with the X-men to Disneyland; Scott was there to show that they weren't welcome. As Scott rang the doorbell, they heard an incredibly fast version of "I'll get it," and the door flew open.  
  
Pietro took one look at Scott, and slammed the door in his face, saying, "no thanks, we don't want any."  
  
"Pietro, get back out here!" Scott yelled through the door.  
  
"Here, let me try, Scott," Kitty said, and yelled, "Lance, open the door, Pietro locked us out." They heard some cussing at Pietro, and Lance opened the door.  
  
"Sorry about that Kitty... hey, what's he doing here?" He asked, looking form Kitty to Scott.  
  
"Listen Alvers, I don't want to be here any more than you want to be here," Scott said. "We're going to Disneyland for a couple of days, so start packing."  
  
Todd, who was listening from the top of the stairs said, "Disneyland? We get to go to Disneyland?" Not bothering to keep the excitement from his voice.  
  
"No, we're not," Lance said, looking at Scott, glaring at him. He was pretty sure he was glaring back, but it was kind of hard to tell, those stupid glasses. "Why do you want us to go anyway," he asked suspiciously.  
  
"Yeah, like we're really going to leave you here without us to stop you? I don't want you to come, but the Professor says you have to, so start packing, we leave tomorrow morning."  
  
Lance stood there for a moment after Scott and Kitty left, not even noticing that Kitty had given him a kiss. "Wow," he said. "We're going to Disneyland." So it wasn't an ordinary day after all.  
  
The next day, on the X-jet, the mutants (and Amanda) we're talking, laughing, using their powers, and, all in all, driving the adults insane, which was pretty much usual for them. Amanda and Kurt were playing a game of BS with Bobby and Jubilee, Lance and Kitty were sitting as close as they could without getting diced up by Logan, Scott and Jean we're trying to keep control, and the other mutants were doing their best to make sure that Scott and Jean didn't succeed.  
  
After losing another game of BS, Amanda decided to go to the bathroom. On her way there, she noticed a young boy in a red sweater, who appeared to be talking to...his twin? Amanda watched in shock as the boy lightly punched himself, and two more of him appeared. She had never seen this mutant before, and the fact that he was talking with himself was a little unnerving. Amanda noticed, not for the first time, that she was the only human on this trip.  
  
Jaime was indeed having a conversation with himself. They were discussing what they were going to do about their powers. None of them wanted to be discovered as mutants, and even a slight bump would turn him into a twin. One multiple wanted to ask the professor, one wanted to just stay in the hotel, and the other said that they should make a lot of multiples, and go on all the rides at once. While the other's agreed it was a cool idea, they didn't want to freak too many people out.  
  
As though he was reading his mind, (which he could have been, I mean, he is a telepath) the professor said, "Jamie, could you come here a moment?" As Jamie walked down the isle in-between the seats, he could see Bobby smirking at him. Obviously, he thought that Jamie was in trouble, something that he loved to see.  
  
"Um, Professor, I swear, I didn't do it," Jamie said, just in case he was in trouble.  
  
"No, Jamie, you're not in trouble, I just wanted to give you a present before we land."  
  
"You might want to pull yourself together though, shrimp," Logan said, gesturing to the multiples, which looked as if they did not want to be reabsorbed, and that they wanted to see what happened.  
  
"Um, I don't think they want to go back in just yet," Jaime said.  
  
"Very well, but they will have to go back in soon," the professor said. He handed him a small box. When Jamie opened it up, he saw a watch that looked like Kurt and Hank's image inducers.  
  
"Professor, what do I need this for, I don't need a different image," Jamie asked, puzzled.  
  
"While it looks the same as an image inducer, this will actually stop the multiples from appearing. But, unfortunately, we only expect it to last while we're here, but I believe it will make it for the time we are at the park," the professor explained.  
  
"No way!" Jamie exclaimed, putting it on, and punching himself. Nothing happened. "Guys! Guys, look, look, I can control my power, I'm normal!"  
  
The professor and Storm smiled at each other, this was the reaction they were expecting from Jamie. Soon they would be landing, and, tomorrow, he would be able to walk into the park without fear of being discovered, and being considered human, which is what they all wanted. But for now, they had a vacation to enjoy, and they had to get to their hotel and rest, because tomorrow would be a big day for all of them. 


	3. Stranger things

Hey everyone, sorry about the confusion of Chapter 2, I didn't realize I did it, and, since this is my first story and all, I have no idea how to fix it. If you want to email me and complain, that's fine, but, unless you send instructions on how to fix it, there ain't a thing I can do about it. So, read and enjoy! (hopefully, and I wouldn't mind a review or two.) Chapter 3  
They were there, they were at Disneyland. The tickets were bought, the groups were split up, and they were starting into the parks. Half of them were going to Disneyland, and the other half were going to California Adventure, and the next day they would switch.  
Jamie and Todd seemed to be the most excited about going. They were paired up together, and had the Rouge and Scarlet Witch were, what they called, "babysitting." Jamie didn't really mind that he had someone watching him, and Todd was glad that Wanda was in his group. They were going to California Adventure and the two of them were anxious to get on as many rides as possible.  
They decided to go around in a circle, so, for those of you who have never gone to the magical parks, I guess I'll explain a bit about their schedule. They went on "Soaring Over California" first. While they were waiting in line, they realized that the sign that said the wait would only be an hour was lying. After an hour and 45 minutes of waiting in awkward silence, Jamie and Todd started talking about Gameboy's, and the two Goth's started talking about how annoying it was to be living with the brotherhood, exchanging secrets on how to survive living with a bunch of teenage mutants.  
The ride went smoothly, except for when Rouge had to stop Wanda from killing Todd when he tried to kiss her. Jamie was so impressed with the ride, that he started to get in line again, but the others were able to drag him out, they weren't that eager about standing in line for two hours for a 5-minute ride.   
Jean and Scott were wandering around Disneyland together, more interested in each other than going on the rides. They decided to go on the Mark Twain boat, to try to get away from some of the new recruits, who were making fun of them. Once Bobby realized that nothing was going to happen on a slow boat ride, he led the recruits toward Splash Mountain. Scott and Jean stood at the side of the boat, talking quietly with each other.  
"You know, Jean," Scott said, "a trip to Disneyland couldn't have been cheap, especially when we just went on that cruise last month."  
"I know Scott, but maybe he felt we needed a break from Bayville," Jean said.  
"You mean from mutant haters?" Scott said knowingly. They both had their fair share of problems with people who didn't tolerate mutants. Since all of Bayville knew they were mutants, they had been kicked out of restaurants, stores, movie theaters, they were just lucky no one had been seriously hurt.  
"Here, no one knows about us, we can be safe," Jean said.  
"Yeah, until someone uses their power's," Scott said harshly. Jean knew that he was talking about the Brotherhood, and quickly changed the subject. The last thing they needed was mutants fighting at the happiest place on earth.   
Back at California Adventure, Wanda couldn't believe the difference she had seen in Todd. Without the older boys to push him around, and the fact that Rogue was stopping Wanda from using her powers, he could just be himself. And the fact that Jamie was there made things even better for them, even though they were to years apart, Todd was enough of a kid for the two of them to get along. Wanda watched, smiling slightly, something she didn't do often, and it kind of felt nice.  
Rogue couldn't believe the different Jamie she was seeing. The old Jamie was kind of shy, and always trying to prove that he was old enough to hang with the older mutants. But with Todd, he was able to be a normal kid. They ended up going on the new ride; the Tower of Terror, three times that day; Todd and Jamie tried to go on some more, but, once again, were stopped by their two Goth chaperones. Deciding that they had had enough of their enthusiasm, Rogue and Wanda led them to the "Brother Bear" obstacle course. It was intended for little kids, but Jamie and Todd didn't mind. Todd was limber enough to do just about everything, and Jamie was young enough to not feel that bad when he couldn't. 'Really though,' he thought to himself, 'after the Danger Room, you'd think I'd be able to do everything.' Rogue and Wanda sat just outside the entrance, talking to each other, trying not to remember that they were enemies, and making as polite conversation as possible. "So..." Rogue started. "Are you and Todd...together?" Wanda gave her a rather disgusted look and said, "No, he may think so, but I'm happy just as friends. Actually, acquaintance would be just as good." "Oh," Rouge said, "I just thought, with all the attempted kissing and him saying 'I love you' every five seconds that..." "We we're going out?" Wanda finished for her. "Don't worry; I have better common sense than that." Rogue smiled slightly, something that was rare for her. "I don't know," she said, "you looked like you liked it when he held your hand on the Ferris wheel." The Scarlet Witch turned...well, scarlet.  
"Boys," she called out, "come on, we're leaving." As she started to walk away, she turned back to Rogue and said, "I do not, I repeat, do not, have a crush on Toad." She turned and stormed off, leaving Rogue to continue smirking at her slight outburst. She had a feeling that, by the end of their vacation, Wanda would admit her feelings for Todd. This was the most magical place on earth, after all, and, who knew, crazier things had happened this year. Wanda confessing her undying love for Todd wouldn't be considered any stranger than the fact that Jean and Scott had survived teaching a lesson to the new recruits. 


	4. A day at Dland

Ok, I promise I'll end this off soon, and I'm just warning you now, I won't be going into detail with all the rides. I don't want to kill the "magical experience" for any future Disney-goers. I apologize for those who do actually want me to kill the rides for them, but, I don't really want the rides to be a big part of the story. Oh, and thanks to mentallyinsane188 for reviewing my story, and epona04 for telling me how to work this stupid website.  
  
Oops, I forgot a disclaimer. I don't own the X-men, Disneyland, I do plan on taking over Disney when I'm older, but for now, I believe Michael Eisner is getting all the dough.  
  
Chapter 4  
It was hot, too hot for Bobby's liking. He had always been in places where it snowed, but California? It was at least 99 degrees, and he could not take it, especially with the fact that Roberto was enjoying himself so much. Both of them wanted to power up, Roberto so he could enjoy the full experience of good ol' California sunshine, and Bobby so he could escape it. Unfortunately, they came to escape their mutant problems; they didn't want anyone to find out who they were.  
Bobby ended up going on the Star Wars ride 8 times that day. The air- conditioner was on so high, Roberto refused to go on again, but for Bobby, it was heaven. Most of the other recruits went with Bobby on his new- favorite ride, but Rahne had decided to stay off with Roberto, which resulted in a little "alone time" between the two of them. They ended up leaving the main group for the rest of the day, earning a reprimand from the professor, and a lot more information about the two of them for the other recruits to gossip about.  
"Amara, did you see the way she was looking at him?" Jubilee asked her friend.  
"Yeah and how she didn't want to go on Star Wars again when he said he didn't want to, even though she said it was her favorite ride?" Amara replied.  
"Yup, girls," Tabitha said, "sounds like ol' wolf-girl's in love." The trio of girls squealed in delight at the fact that their friend was finally following her heart. After the months of the Jean/Scott thing, they were glad that someone was actually coming out in the open with things, instead of hiding their feelings forever.   
  
Speaking of hiding their feelings forever, Lance and Kitty were trying hard to suppress their feelings. Not their love for each other, but their anger. Fred and Pietro had tagged along with them, no matter how nicely Kitty and Lance asked them to leave. Pietro used the excuse that there was no other group, Lance said Rogue and Wanda's group was fine. Freddy said that the two Goth's scared them; Kitty said that they shouldn't be afraid of two girls. After 20 minutes of pointless argument and they hadn't gotten anywhere, Lance and Kitty decided to make the best of things, and ignore them- which was not as easy as it sounded. Lance had been able to ignore them when they made fun of the fact that he was sick after "Soaring Over California." (A/N for those who don't know, S.O.C is a flight simulation of hang-gliding, and since he threw up after "Joy Ride," I figured he wouldn't make it through the whole ride.) Kitty was ignoring them when they made fun of her for freaking on some of the rides, and they both were ignoring the faces and snide remarks they were making. "You know guys," Kitty said, "I'm sure the Professor won't mind if we split up into groups." The boys didn't take the hint. "No, Kitty, you know he said we should stay together," Pietro said innocently. "Pietro, Kitty and I want to be alone," Lance said, through clenched teeth. Just as he was about to bring the closest buildings down on his annoying friends, he spotted Rogue and Wanda. "Kitty," he whispered, "I think we've found the answer to our prayers." He shouted to the two Goths, "Hey, Rogue, Wanda, come over here." The two girls and their charges looked around for a second, and saw Lance waving them over. "What do you want Avalanche?" Wanda asked, angry that her day was about to be ruined by her brother. "Would you mind babysitting these two along with Jamie and Todd," Kitty said, pointing at Fred and Pietro. "Why, they gettin' to be too much for ya'll?" Rogue asked with a smirk on her face. "Just take them," Lance said, grabbing Kitty's hand and storming off. "Hey beautiful," Pietro said to Rogue, "how about we ditch these losers and find out if this place really is magic?" Rogue gave him a disgusted look, grabbed Jamie's hand, and stormed off, Wanda and Todd in tow. "What? I was just kidding!"   
The teachers were having an enjoyable, student-free day. At least, everyone but Logan was. So far, Ororo had dragged him on to almost every ride at Disneyland, including the "baby rides" in Fantasyland. He had just about had it, when he saw that Bobby was almost as miserable as he was, suffering in the unbearable heat (for him), which made him feel better. At least he wasn't the only one who wasn't having as much fun as the professor said they'd have.   
After that, the day went pretty uneventful, except for the fact that Lance had thrown up three more times, Bobby got mad at Roberto's happiness, and froze his butt to the seat on Splash Mountain, (they were able to cover it up with Amara's power, but Roberto wasn't able to walk straight for two hours) and Pietro's continued attempts to hit on Rogue.  
They all came back to the hotel rather exhausted, not as exhausted as normal people (a day at Disneyland was nothing compared to an hour in the Danger Room) but they were still tired.  
When they separated into their different rooms, Scott turned his and Lance's T.V on. He flipped the channel a couple of times, until he landed on a news program.  
"Do we have to watch that?" Lance complained. "It's bad enough that I have to share a room with you, why do we have to worry about the news on our vacation?"  
"First of all, this is our vacation," Scott replied, "you just came so we could keep an eye on you. Second, I want to make sure nothing's going on with the mutant cases. Like that," he said sadly. He stared at the TV for a second, which was showing a house on fire, with a bunch of people surrounding it. Half of them looked like they were trying to stop it; the other half looked like they were trying to make it bigger.  
Scott mentally called the professor and Jean, telling them to get everybody to turn on their TV's. Lance was sitting on his bed, a look of horror etched on his face, looking at the burning house. It was the Brotherhood's house. 


	5. Snake Heads and Candy Shops

Okay people, this is, like, the second to the last chapter, but I really want reviews, I mean, you can just say how stupid this story is, but I kinda want proof that people are reading this, okay? It's not that hard you know. Oh, and you're all gonna have to imagine accents on the appropriate character, because the spell checker is driving me crazy, so I don't want to do them. Sorry.  
  
Chapter Five  
  
Todd stared at his TV, hypnotized by what it was showing. His house, no, his family's house, was burning to the ground. He couldn't believe it. And the worst part was there was nothing he could do about it. They were all the way across the country; there was no way he could get there to save it. He was forced to watch the best home he ever lived in burn to the ground, hundreds of miles away.  
  
Lance turned off his TV, and stared at the ground for a second. Scott watched him, anxiously. Lance stood up, and walked out of the room they shared, and over to the Professor's.  
  
"Open up Baldy," he yelled, pounding on the door. It was opened by a very worried looking Storm.  
  
"Lance, calm down, we don't want to alert anyone about this, no matter how upset we are," she said.  
  
"How upset you are? They aren't burning down your mansion; they're burning down our house! I'll get as upset as I want. I have every right to," he said, pushing her slightly out of the way. He walked up to the Professor. "You knew this was going to happen, didn't you, Baldy?" he asked, grabbing his shirt and lifting him out of his chair.  
  
"Lance, how could I have known this was going to happen?" he asked.  
  
"You're a telepath!"  
  
"I'm a telepath, I don't see the future!"  
  
"You can read people's minds, you can tell when they're about to do something big like this!" Lance was starting to yell, which woke Jamie up, and he came into the room.  
  
"What's going on," he asked, rubbing his eyes, not understanding why Lance was yelling at his leader.  
  
"Stay out of this, kid," Lance said, lightly shoving him out of the room.  
  
"Lance, what's going on?" Jamie asked again, obviously mad that he was being left out of something again. Luckily, Todd walked into the room, and was able to quietly explain what was happening, before Lance lost his temper.  
  
"Hey, you guys can move in with us!" Jamie said; too tired to realize the seriousness of the issue, but awake enough to realize that his new friend could be his new roommate.  
  
"Please, shrimp, I've tried that already, remember? You were one of the people that got me in trouble," Lance said. Logan gave Jamie an odd look, wondering if Jamie had actually been one of the kids behind the joy-rides, but Jamie gave him a "He's just upset, he doesn't know what he's talking about, look at me- I'm innocent and incredibly cute," and Logan decided to just let it go for now.  
  
Pietro stomped into the room. "Lance-we-have-to-go-back-they're-burning- down-the-house-we-have-to-stop-them-all-my-stuff-is-in-there-Lance-make- them-stop-Baldy-take-me-home-now-I-don't-want-to-be-at-Disneyland-anymore-I- need-to-save-my-house-please! All this was said incredibly fast, and Pietro was almost in tears and hyperventilating by the time he was done.  
  
The others tried to decipher what he'd just said, and the Professor said, slowly, ( way too slow for Pietro's liking, who started running around the room, trying to make up for the lack of speed) "We cannot do anything, Pietro, there's no way we can get back in time to stop them."  
  
"You're-lying-what-about-Blue-Boy-he-can-teleport-anywhere!" Pietro said.  
  
"I can't go everywhere; I can barely get three miles. It would take forever to get back home from here," Kurt said, walking into the room with the rest of the X-men.  
  
"Why did we agree to go on this stupid trip again?" Lance asked aloud. He looked around angrily until he spotted Scott. "You!" He yelled, shoving Scott into the wall. "You were the one who said we just had to come, that we would get in trouble if you left us behind. Well, here's a news flash, Goggle-boy, we're not the ones causing the trouble, okay? We're not the ones burning down houses!" he shouted.  
  
"Please, if we left you at home, you'd be in the house, going down with it," Scott said, not really fazed by the fact that Lance looked ready to kill him. "You should be thanking us for saving your sorry butts from those guys," he said.  
  
This was the final straw for Lance, it was bad enough knowing that his house was burning down and there was nothing he could do, but he was not going to sit and be insulted by a guy whose idea of "fun" consisted of Level 5 Danger Room sessions. He looked straight into Scott's eyes, (once again, where he thought they were, dang sunglasses) and socked him in the jaw.  
  
Scott looked blankly at him for a second, rubbing his jaw, and then, before the Professor could stop him, he punched Lance back. They kept at the fight for about a minute, spitting out a few choice words that don't belong on a PG story, until Logan came in between the two, claws out, daring either one of them to start fighting again.  
  
"Listen, Shades, Rocky," he said, "this ain't gonna help. We can't do anything about your house; killing people won't make this go away. Now, you have two choices, you can quit this now, before I get angry, and just stay with us for awhile, or, you can keep fighting and I'll throw your butts out onto Main Street." He thought for a moment, then said, "Actually, you don't have a choice, you both are going to bed, and if I hear another word out of either of you, you won't need to worry about the housing arrangements," he flashed his claws, making sure that both teens knew what he was talking about.  
  
"I-don't-want-to-live-with-you-guys-you-guys-are-scary-and-I-don't-want-to- go-you-can't-make-me," Pietro said, and Lance and Fred made similar objections to living with their former enemies. They turned to stare at Todd, surprised at how quiet he was. They didn't expect Wanda to care, but this was Todd's house, and they figured he would be the most upset. He was staring at the TV, as the fire was put out; staring at the rubble that once was their house.  
  
"Let's go to bed you guys," he said, turning off the TV, and starting to walk out of the room. Pietro stopped him before he could get out, standing in front of the door.  
  
"You-don't-like-the-X-geeks-at-all-you're-scared-of-them-even-more-than-I- am-why-do-you-want-to-go?" There was a slight pause in his almost unintelligible speech to glare at Professor Xavier. "You-brainwashed-him- didn't-you-you-bald-mutant-freak-how-could-you-brainwash-poor-innocent- little-Todd-how-could-you-even-find-a-brain-to-wash-this-is-horrible-my- favorite-teddy-bear-was-in-there!" Pietro stopped his babbling with a knock in the head from Todd.  
  
"Pietro, shut up," Todd said, and went quietly back to his bedroom. The members of the Brotherhood stared at the departing Toad in shock. He never stood up to any of them. He was always too scared, always the one they had the urge to protect, no matter how bad he smelled. They couldn't figure out if Xavier actually had brainwashed him, or if losing his house had just sent the boy into shock. Either way, it was a little unnerving for Todd to be the one with the good idea, and the rest of the Brotherhood didn't want anyone to think that Todd was better than them. Lance, Wanda and Fred started towards the door when Pietro ran into their path.  
  
"You-guys-are-all-traitors-our-house-is-gone-because-you-wouldn't-let-me-go- back-how-could-you! All-my-stuff-everything-all-our-money-is-gone-what-are- we-going-to-do? We-can't-live-with-the-X-geeks-this-is-a-really-bad-idea- what-about-my-teddy?!?" Pietro stopped talking when he received another bump on his head, this time from his sister.  
  
"Pietro, for once in your life, shut up. We'll deal with this in the morning. And if you really feel that bad about your teddy bear, I'll buy you a new one tomorrow," Wanda said, and left for bed. Pietro stared after her, wondering why she was so calm about this horrible problem...and how she knew what he was talking about, he thought he was too fast for anybody to actually understand his ranting. As he and Lance left the room, (Pietro giving dirty glares to everyone) he slightly noticed Scott mouth the words, "Teddy Bear?" but shrugged it off, he could kick his butt in the morning if old goggle boy had a problem with his Teddy.  
  
The Next Morning

The Brotherhood members were heading down to the complimentary hotel breakfast, far quieter than they had ever been before. Lance and Fred were quiet because they knew that by tomorrow night, they would be living with their former enemies, Todd was quiet because his house, his one true home, had been burnt down, Pietro was quiet because he thought his friends had betrayed him, and Wanda was quiet because, well, it was never quiet, and she kind of liked it. She didn't have any real attachment to the house, and couldn't care less about living with the X-men, so she was happy just to enjoy the misery of the boys.  
  
"You could at least pretend you're a little upset about this, you know," Pietro told his sister angrily.  
  
"Why? That house was a dump, we're going to be living in a building with air-conditioning and a heater, where the hot water works, where there will always be food..." Wanda was interrupted by Lance.  
  
"Okay, okay, so are house sucks, but aren't you going to miss all the good times we..." Lance paused for a second, trying to remember if they did have any good times. "Yeah, okay, so we're probably better off with Baldy. Besides, with all his cool gadgets, I bet we can find the jerks that wrecked our house."  
  
"You didn't seem to think that last night; you were ready to find those guys by yourself. That fight with Summer's was great, by the way, you should borrow some of Kitty's make-up, your eye looks really bad," Pietro said, bringing up the black eye Lance had received from his and Scott's little argument.  
  
"I thought about it, and I decided it wouldn't be that bad living with them," Lance repeated, "so let's forget about it for now and just enjoy the vacation." He walked off, seeing Kitty waving him over.  
  
"What a traitor, some stupid little girl bats her eyelashes, and he goes all out after her!" Pietro said, rolling his eyes in disgust at his friend.  
  
"Hey, look, Pietro, its Rogue," Fred said, knowing that if he wasn't stopped now, Pietro could babble on for hours about Lance's stupid love problem. Pietro scanned the room, until he saw Rogue eating by herself at one of the tables.  
  
"Oh. Hi Rogue," he said happily, and rushed off to see her, leaving the remaining three Brotherhood members to shake their heads.  
  
"Oh well, there goes another one to an X-girl," Todd said.  
  
Later that day, at Disneyland  
  
Kurt and Amanda were walking down Main Street, talking about anything and everything they wanted, and randomly jumping from one topic to another. That's the good thing about true love- you can say anything, and they won't think you're crazy, because they're thinking the same thing. At least that's how their love life went. I don't really know or care how yours works; I'm just talking about them.  
  
One of the many topics they jumped to was the Brotherhood, and if they really were going to be living together.  
  
"I don't see what's wrong with it," Amanda said, "you guys haven't fought in ages, why does it matter now?"  
  
"Well, it's not that really, I just don't want to be stuck with Todd," Kurt replied. "When we first met, we didn't really get along."  
  
"But that doesn't matter anymore, does it?"  
  
"He called me a fuzzy blue gecko," Kurt said, ignoring the strange looks he was getting from the other tourists. Amanda laughed.  
  
"Fuzzy blue gecko? I like that, why didn't you tell me that one?" She asked.  
  
"Oh, come on, Amanda, like I was going to talk about that slimy toad in front of you, I have better manners than that," he said, pulling her into the closest line.  
  
In another area of the Park  
  
"Come on Rogue, Indiana Jones can't be that scary!" Pietro yelled, pulling on her sleeve, trying to drag her on the ride.  
  
"Pietro, look at that, there's no way I'm going on that!" Rogue said, ripping her sleeve away from him.  
  
"I thought you were the 'Fearless Rogue'?" Wanda asked. "You're afraid to go on a little ride?" "That doesn't look like a 'little ride' to me!" Rogue said. "And besides, you know that this is like, the only kind of scary ride in the whole park."  
  
"Did you just say 'like' yo?" Todd asked. "You're starting to sound like Kitty."  
  
"I just don't want to go on it," Rogue said, and proceeded to sit on one of the rock/bench things.  
  
"Fine we'll go without you," Pietro said, and turned around, not noticing the pole that had a snake head, which held the rope for the lines. The snake head was made at the perfect level so that when Pietro turned around... well; you can kind of guess what "perfect level" I'm talking about. "Owwww...." Pietro said, tears welling in his eyes, as everyone started laughing at him. Rogue decided that was punishment enough for trying to make her go on, and decided that if he had to suffer, she might as well go on it with him. She ended up closing her eyes through the whole thing, but, she still went on it. And Pietro figured that was enough of a sign that she liked him. And that was enough to make the pain in his...ah hem...you know...go away.

Yet Another Area of the Park  
  
"So, Lance," Kitty started. "How..."  
  
"I don't want to talk about it Kitty," Lance said, interrupting her. "I've got a free vacation to Disneyland, I'll probably never get to do it again, and I don't want it ruined by talking about the house. I'm over it for now, so let's just let it go."  
  
"Okay," Kitty replied, rather nervous about how calm he sounded. She thought he should be a little more upset, even if they were at the happiest place on earth. It was almost as if he didn't care. But she let it slide, thinking that he was just in a forgiving mood or something. She was proved wrong a few moments later.  
  
"Freak, get out of here," a man, probably in his late 30's, said to a terrified teenage girl. He and a few of his friend's and their wives were all circling the girl, who was obviously a mutant. Two of the girls friends were watching from a little bit away, too terrified to come closer, but too curious to run away.  
  
Lance watched as the man threw the girl to the ground, cussing at her all the while, and stepped forward. This was the chance he was waiting for, he doubted they would catch the people who burnt down his house, but he was going to get these thugs, and make them pay for his house. As he was about to grab one of the guys, Kitty grabbed his arm. "Lance, I don't want you hurting them; it's just going to make things worse."  
  
He looked at Kitty for a second, and stepped forward again. "Stop it," he said, grabbing the man's shirt and throwing him into the nearest wall. "You don't pick on someone because they're different then you," he shoved the man into the wall again. "It's a nice day at the park, you get on your way, we'll get on ours, but if I see you do anything like this again, I won't be nice just because I'm here with my girlfriend." With one last shove, Lance threw the man on the ground, threw a threatening glance at his friends, took Kitty by the arm, and walked off. The mutant girl said a brief thanks, and went to join her friends, who seemed to be a little scared of her, but more scared of Lance to say anything about it.

At the exit of Splash Mountain

Rogue, Pietro, Fred, Todd, Wanda, and Jamie had just gotten off Splash Mountain, Jamie and Todd were soaking wet from being in the front seat, and everyone else was just wet enough to escape the heat.  
  
"Hey, let's go into that store," Jamie said, pointing at a store that was across the way.  
  
"Aw, shrimp, that's a Winnie the Pooh store, let's go on another ride," Pietro said. Jamie looked at Rogue with his big, "I want to go in, and I'm to cute to resist" eyes, until she gave in, and dragged the rest of them inside. They may not listen to Jamie, but the Rogue was someone you listened to, even if she was a little bit afraid of Indiana Jones. Anybody who could knock you out with a simple handshake was someone you listen to.  
  
"Oh, my gosh," Pietro said slowly- well, at least, as slowly as he could possibly get. He was looking down the rows of clothes and Winnie the Pooh and friends' stuffed animals, into the candy shop hidden in the back. Pietro started drooling, imaging all the sugar in there. Rogue had barely been able to get him past the candy shop on Main Street, but she didn't know there was candy hidden in the back here.  
  
"Oh, shoot," Wanda said, knowing that she couldn't use her powers in the store, and that Pietro was free to get sugar high. And he did. There was candy everywhere. But the thing that really got his attention was the "tree stump" (its Winnie the Pooh, everything is in the woods somehow) in the middle. It was a circular stump, and in clear cylinders was sugar, in every color and flavor you can imagine. It was like having 50 Pixie Sticks shoved into one tube. It was beautiful...it was amazing...it was...gone. In the blink of an eye, Pietro had managed to take half the sugar.  
  
"Pietro," Rogue said, tripping what most people would think was the wind and having Pietro land at her feet. "You can't steal anything, you're with us, and you have money now."  
  
Pietro looked down at the candy in his arms, probably wondering if it would taste the same if it was actually bought, something that the Brotherhood hadn't done in a while. With a final glance at Rogue, he zipped past her, towards the cash register. As he started paying, Rogue vaguely wondered where he got the money to pay for it; she didn't think the Professor had given them any money yet. And where did he get that wallet...the one that looked...exactly like...hers!  
  
"Pietro, give me my wallet back!" She yelled, going after him. Pietro quickly finished paying, and ran out the door, yelling something along the lines of, "but you said I had to pay! I didn't have any money!" as they ran down the street, knocking people down as they went.  
  
Jamie looked on for a few minutes, and glanced over at Todd. "You know," he said, "things are going to get pretty interesting with you guys around." Todd nodded in agreement, wondering just how strange it would get, as Rogue "accidentally" knocked Pietro out, and smiling sweetly (or as sweetly as the Rogue can smile) at the elderly couple that were looking at her strangely.


	6. Firework Spectacular

Lance and Kitty had just gone on the Autopia's, and Lance was wondering how Kitty could crash so many times in a car that was on a track. It just didn't seem possible. He sort of regretted having agreed to sharing a car with her instead of having his own. But Kitty was happy, and that was all that seemed to matter for now. He still wasn't eager to living with the X- men, but for Kitty....well, he thought she was worth it.  
  
Kitty dragged Lance on the Matter horn, for which he was sort of grateful. He didn't realize how close you sit together in that ride; she was practically sitting on his lap. He loved it, expect for when they were going uphill, and her ponytail that he hated so much got in his face and in his mouth.  
  
"Well, Lance, are you having fun so far?" Kitty asked, trying to get him on Small World, to which he refused.  
  
"I don't know, Kitty," he said, "yesterday it was fun, but now I've got the house and the guys to think about. It's kind of killing it for me." He paused, and grinned at her, "And there's also the fact that you're trying to get me to go on all those stupid baby rides."  
  
"What's wrong with Peter Pan and Pinocchio? I like those rides," Kitty said.  
  
"They're made for kids," Lance said, wondering how his girlfriend could like such weird things.  
  
"Aw, come on Lance, how many times do you wake up in the middle of the night and turn on Snow White or something?"  
  
"Honestly? I don't think I've ever seen a Disney movie," Lance said.  
  
"Like, no way!" Kitty said, not believing that anyone could live in this century without seeing a Disney movie. "You've never seen Beauty and the Beast, or the Little Mermaid? How is that possible?"  
  
"Well, my foster parents weren't big on 'family time', and the guys weren't really into movies where everyone lives happily ever after, it's just not what we're used to," Lance replied, hoping she would drop the subject.  
  
She took the hint. "So..." she said, "do you want to go into ToonTown? It's not that babyish."  
  
Lance gave into her puppy dog eyes that Jamie had taught her, and followed her into ToonTown.  
  
With Kurt and Amanda  
  
The new recruits had given up on bugging Jean and Scott, so decided to settle on Kurt and Amanda. They weren't as mean to Kurt as they were to Scott, but having seven young teens following you can be a little unnerving after a while.  
  
"Let's go on the roller coaster."  
  
"No, I want to see the Aladdin show."  
  
"No way man, that Tower of Terror looks awesome."  
  
"Please, Scott's danger room sessions are scarier than that, let's go on Soaring Over California, Kitty said it was great."  
  
"Grizzly Rapids."  
  
"Soaring Over California."  
  
"Tower of Terror."  
  
"The Aladdin show."  
  
"Okay guys, how about we split up, me and Amanda will go over here, and you all go over there," Kurt said, trying to escape them.  
  
"Aw Kurt, you know it's way more fun with a big group," Amanda said.  
  
"It was more fun yesterday," Kurt grumbled, but let himself be led away by his girlfriend.  
  
And then the other way, when the recruits decided to go on a different ride.  
  
And then back the other way, when they decided that they wanted to go on the first ride after all.  
  
"Please make up your minds," Kurt said. "Why don't we just relax for a bit, and have lunch." This brought up another argument.  
  
"Let's got to that place in front."  
  
"No, there's a good place right here."  
  
"What's wrong with that hot dog stand?"  
  
"Can we just have a Churro, or some popcorn?"  
  
"I should've known," Kurt said, collapsing on the closest bench, and refused to move until they had made up their minds. "Don't worry Kurt," Amanda said. "We'll have some alone time later, but I don't want to hurt their feelings, look what happened with Scott and Jean."  
  
Kurt sighed, knowing he had lost. He had seen the list of things the recruits were planning to do to his older friends when they got back, and he didn't want to be added to the list.  
  
With Scott and Jean  
  
"How did you get rid of those kids?" Scott asked Jean.  
  
"I...accidentally mind warped them into thinking that Kurt was much more fun to annoy," Jean replied, proud of herself.  
  
"You realize that once they've figured out what you've done, they're going to get us, right?" Scott asked, rather worried.  
  
"Oh, please, I'm getting so good at this; they'll never even remember it."  
  
Scott nodded, not really believing her, but not wanting to think about what would happen when they got home.  
  
With other people  
  
Pietro was holding Rogue as close as he dared as they were on the Jungle Cruise, laughing a little too loudly at the Skipper's jokes for her liking. Jamie was laughing at Rogue squirm under all this attention that she was getting from Pietro, she wasn't used to being touched, but she seemed like she liked it. She sent Jamie a glare that quickly shut him up, he was scared stiff when it came to Rogue's glares.  
  
After the ride, Jamie decided it was late enough to start saving seats for a good view of the fireworks. It was going to get crowded soon, and you had to get a good spot, or else it wouldn't be as cool. He had originally wanted to make a few copies to save the seats, but the others wouldn't let him.  
  
"Okay, now we need really good seats, so we can't go there, there's too many trees, and the castle will get in the way if we stay there, so how about here?" Jamie rambled on for a few more minutes, at a speed that had even Pietro impressed. He finally decided on a spot, big enough for the whole group, which took up a lot of space. Once everyone who was in California Adventure came back into Disneyland, there would be about 20 of them for the fireworks.  
  
As it got later and later, more and more of the X-men and Brotherhood showed up, until 9:00, when everyone came back. They were all talking excitedly, discussing their days with each other, bragging about how many rides they had been on.  
  
As the fireworks started, the Professor looked around at his group, his X- men. This was his dream, his vision for the future. They were all different, they came from different backgrounds, but they were all brought here for one reason-to have fun together. They were at a place where they could be considered normal, where they could do normal things.  
  
He looked at the couples, holding each other tightly, watching the spectacular in the sky in wonderment. Most of them had hated each other before, and while the road was going to be a bit rough, he knew they would be alright. Kurt and Amanda had had some hard times, but they were still together, as different as they were. And Kitty and Lance had more fights than Logan and Ororo, but they were still able to be teenagers, in the place that he had created for them. To not only learn how to control their powers, but how to be normal. He was so proud of his group, for who they were, and for what they had done, that he was barely able to watch the beauty in the stars above him, choosing instead to watch his students.  
  
Jamie also looked around at his friends when the fireworks paused for a second. This had been the best time of his life, he had met people who treated him as a person, and he had realized that not everyone from the institute hated him. He had remembered what it was like to be a kid, something that he had tried to avoid at his time at the mansion, so as to be accepted by the other students. He had had fun, it was great. And the best part was, it was just beginning. It was still the middle of summer, there was a ton of things he could do with his new friends, places to see, people to meet, pranks to pull...  
  
He looked at his new friends, and his old ones, and realized once again that maybe...this wouldn't be such a boring summer after all.

**Hey, sorry if it's a bit short, but that's all I could think of. That's the end, thanks for reading, so long, farewell, auf weird...aw, forget it. R&R Thanks!**


End file.
